Bloody Mary's — Restaurant in Christchurch

Went to bloody Marys on Easter Friday 2024 with my brother. We went in and was told quickly we can sit wherever and there was a 15% surcharge for Easter. We said all good and found a seat in the sun. Waited 15-20 minutes and wasn't brought menus or water, or told where to get it and my brother had to go and remind the server we were there. There was about 2-3 tables with like 4-5 customers max. After 5-10 more minutes of waiting my brother went and got some menus, ordered some juices and found the water station. The customer on the table close to us told us the lady was serving HER well and had come out repeatedly to make sure she was taken care of. The server didn't come out for our orders, my brother had to go in and tell them after like 10mins. The server rudely assumed my brother and I were partners and was going on about she's going to ask the kitchen to take extra care because I'm pregnant. We ordered $94 worth of product including the 2 juices we got earlier. We waited 50mins for our food before deciding to just leave. I had gone in after 30mins asking if there's something wrong and the bar lady said "Sorry it's because the kitchen only opened an hour ago". Whatever that's supposed to mean. So I went back to our table and we waited another 20mins and I was over it. My brother and I went to the front desk and waited in the empty restaurant (except 2 tables) while I paced around visibly upset and the bar lady came over saying "The food is literally nearly ready" and I said we want a refund because we are leaving. She went on to say she's not sure they do that and had to go get her supervisor. Supervisor walks in and walks straight past us to go to the desk and look at the computer. Ah rude!? Supervisor says "It's because how we wanted the streak is why it's taking long" (My brother wanted his steak medium rare, make it make sense) Then she says for us to go into the hotel to get our refund from them. I said "ah no you can go and get our refund please" and so she did. No apology at all, just a fake smile acting weird. Terrible customer service and lying to customers is just weird. $94 plus the drinks we would have ordered while eating and most probably dessert, and we still weren't treated like worthy customers. Yes, we are brown and the lady who said she was taken care of well was white. Not related you might think, but after living here in CHCH 7-8 years I'm telling you, it's a thing. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant and I think the staff on that day should be spoken to about treating all...

This place is probably ranked 4-5 but the day I went for lunch it would be minus 5. My argument is not with the waiting staff but with exceptionally poor training. There was nothing about the lunch service that remotely mirrored a quality establishment. To start the entrée came out with other main. Then my main came out quickly after whilst still eating entrée so that went back. One would think that at least the Chef would know not to do that. Didn't seem to be ANY organisation in the restaurant as we had a visit from another waitress asking if all was ok. Meanwhile, I must have waited at least 20+ minutes by which time my wife had finished her main. We had another visit from a waitress who didn't seem to have any idea what was going on so I then cancelled my main with her. A few minutes later it turned up with the original but by that time it was too late. All during this time, no offer to replenish water on the table was offered. I think there were 8-10 people in the Restaurant so not busy. There was a small private lunch in a function room. This venue does a lot of functions so I'm assuming that would have been well managed. Right at the end, another waiter turned up ( Assistant Supervisor) had no idea of what had transpired. Obviously no communication AT ALL between the three staff involved. One plus was that kitchen had decided to recook the original but it took so long that they ended up wasting ( I assume) two perfectly good Ribeye Steaks) and close to $80. Or the staff got a really nice lunch. This was a special occasion that was spoilt through a lack of experience and training. inadequate supervision and very poor senior management processes that would allow this level of incompetence to exist. And please don't blame Covid!! The quality of the food, décor and atmosphere was good. However, I will not...

We chose Bloody Marys for an important dinner with American friends we had not seen for 3 years due to Covid.

The whole experience was a total fiasco from start to finish.

The barman forgot to enter the drinks we ordered, so they did not come until we chased them up and ordered them again. Then the next round, the waiter brought the wrong drinks, it took ages for it to be corrected. I was standing at the bar trying to order drinks, while one of your barmen polished glasses very slowly at the end of the bar, even though he could see I was waiting.

Then we went into the restaurant bang on time at 7.15 and ordered food promptly. 2 people out of 8 had starters and they came eventually about 20 minutes later, then we had to wait over 90 minutes for our food. When we asked where our food was, the young waitress first tried to tell us that it was nearly there, then told my wife scathingly that because some people had ordered starters, it was normal to wait that long. She was incredibly rude, so we asked to speak to the manager who blamed the original waiter for being new, then told us that it was normal to wait 90 minutes for food!! When the food finally came, the restaurant was nearly empty and it was nearly 10pm.

Then we had to pay $800 for an average meal which came late, delivered with rude and dismissive service. I noted with amusement that the guy taking our money did not ask how the experience had been, because he would have known what a disaster the whole meal was.

You guys are a disgrace and should not be in business. I will pass this on to everybody I know and we will never come to your...